I agree. As for never selling your Pantera, I thought the same thing for 42 years and then realized that I could never forgive myself if I let my son drive my 1960 Corvette (bought new for me by my Dad) and he got hurt or worse, so I sold it. He was, of course, very unhappy to say the least but eventually understood. That car gave us lots of fond memories, but was a death trap; it was way too fast for its drum brakes and the steering column didn't have a collapsible section so in a front end collision you'd be impaled. I've been over the old car hobby for years, and prefer much newer technology, performance and safety features. Enjoy your two cats - it's interesting that they share a common mixed bloodline, Italian-American and British-American. Both are fast and gorgeous but totally different.

 

Rule of thumb......If it's a hot car when new and stays there it's usually collectable. Same as slow movers when new have weak values decades later. Examples: XKE=highly collectable. Volvo 1800ES=weak values after 43 years.

 

Mercedes sls...

 

Porsche gt3 rs series...3.6 to 4.0 L w/ 6sp....

 

Exactly. The number one, two and three most collected cars (based on collector car insurance polices) (at least in the US), the Corvette, Mustang and Camaro were mass-produced. The values of the 60s models are through the roof because of pure demographics. Right now, the generation who owned one when they were right out of school or wished they could have afforded one back in the day are in their 60s. Plus my generation who drove them as used cars and regretted how we treated them are in our 40s and 50s. There's two generations at the peak age for nostalgia, financial security and free time who are bidding on them.

Way before that it was original Model As. When I first started participating in car shows in the mid-80s, there would always be at least 25 Model A's at the local monthly cruise nights accompanied by their owners, men in their 60s and 70s all wearing their club vests with commemorative patches. Today, we're lucky to have one or two Model A's show up and no club with vests or patches. Why? They're all dead now or in a nursing home. I imagine most of those restored Model A's are still out there somewhere, inherited by families who have little to no interest in their grandfather's hobby, probably sitting under a cover in a garage with boxes stacked on top of them. Some may have been chopped up into hot rods.

Such is the cycle for mass-produced cars. Youth-oriented cars in particular become collectible 25-35 years later. Adult-oriented cars take longer, more like 40-50 years as collectors have to first satisfy their nostalgia for youthful pursuits. After they've gotten the Corvette or Mustang, if they can afford to continue collecting (or knee replacement makes getting in and out and operating the clutch difficult), then they might go for that station wagon like the one their father drove on a family vacation when they were a child. Or, like me, after taking my Mustangs and Corvettes to car shows for years, I find myself more and more drooling over 1939 Chevrolets and Buicks, really an acquired taste, but definitely going to have to wait till I'm older.

If I had a big warehouse, I'd be stuffing it full of the all the cars I drooled over when I was in high school and college in the 80s. It wasn't the greatest decade for performance, but that doesn't really have anything to do with nostalgia and doesn't stop us from making modifications to bring them up to date. They can only go up in value from here. I was the exception, never stopped playing with cars, but most of my cohort has been doing the minivan thing the last 25-30 years. As soon as their kids move out, they'll be thinking about buying a toy car again and maybe it will be a new F-type or maybe it will be a vintage Porsche 928 like the magazine picture they tore out and taped to their teenage bedroom wall.

 

So, if you had to choose only one - what is more important in one's lifetime: owning things or doing things?

Your answer says it all.

 

If a person could do even a mediocre job of predicting which used cars to buy and when, then hang on to them till they reach peak value before selling, he'd be a billionaire.

I've yet to hear of even one person who did this.

The Corvette guys are still waiting for anything newer than the early 70's to appreciate up out of the basement.

 

Duh me. I saw S2000 and ran with it.

 

If a person could do even a mediocre job of predicting which used cars to buy and when, then hang on to them till they reach peak value before selling, he'd be a billionaire.


I've yet to hear of even one person who did this.
Jay Leno, Jerry Sienfeld, Otis Chandler to name a few. Jay Leno's McClaren F1 is worth $10+M. Years ago I visited the Otis Chandler auto museum and was completely blown away with only the part of his collection on display

The Corvette guys are still waiting for anything newer than the early 70's to appreciate up out of the basement.

Due to emissions, focus on mpg, and the fact that GM products during those times were absolutely garbage those won't go anywhere. Corvettes didn't come out of the cellar until the very late 80's - mid 90's and due to the number produced I doubt any of those will appreciate unless they were some special build or anniversary models.

 

Very broad question, but here's some of my "future investment" picks without going into exotic or super cars

Dodge Prowler
Dodge Viper
Alfa 4C
Chevy Aztec
Buick Grand National
Cadillac XLR

 

Truth is- A 510hp Jaguar XKR will be most desirable.

They simply dont make cars like this anymore nor will they in the future. Here on out car will be smaller in stance and HP will start going down.
But a combination of old world luxury, modern amenities, proper style and power, was a one time moment that happened accidentally in the XKR, like two rivers merging. It was a Guinea pig for all the parts that went into their Ftype. Which only checks 2 out of 3 boxes of Grace-Pace- Space, some would argue only one.

The Aj133 motor itself is being discontinued silently- the focus is on Ingenium diesels, most likely made in India at their new plant in Pune India.


Our car was born in the changing tides when Jaguar still had full access to the best engine plant in the world from their outgoing owners and the incoming owners from another culture had not yet pushed their agenda of creating employment in India, as they have every right to do so.

NOW, the risk to us is, when Jaguar becomes the VW of India, and it will, its the ONLY car company they own, and a very large market. All the millions of cars there now were all licensed from some other marquee. And far less prestigious marquees like Suzuki and fiat.

At such point, will Jaguar's perceived value be that of what VW has been historically?

 

But they didn't buy good/used when they were at the bottom of the depreciation curve and just sit on them waiting to appreciate. That was my point.

 

Jaguar needs to be manufactured in UK IMO. Part of allure is that it is made there. I don't feel that same need for Land Rover.

 

Jaguar XKRS only 5 good ones on the market in Germany - same thing happened to my former Aston Martin DBS - only few actually on the market...

 

Women owner of XKRS even rarer, I imagine the only one in the world. Maybe there is a couple in Saudi Arabia.

 

Since when are women driving in the Kingdom?

 

Sad isnt it. To deprive life, even your own of sexy women driving purring cats.
If someone told me that I would only meet those women after death, I would tell them that's when I intend to repay my mortgage and car loans.

We have tried it their way, they dint look so hot pushing cars as the do driving a masculine supercar.

 

I'd start with a normally aspirated, manual transmission 6 cylinder Porsche. Next I'd add a manual F-Type S. Finally, I would buy an Aston Vantage V12 with a manual transmission. I'd also look for any car that Steve McQueen sneezed on.

 

Chevy Aztec? Do you mean the ugly Pontiac Aztek?

 

From my perspective, for whatever that is worth, there are three things that may inhibit the value appreciation of current vehicles.

Firstly, the electronics will be obsolete and obtaining spares to keep the control modules going may be a challenge.

Next, the move to 'autonomous vehicles', which is quite sinister in my opinion, may mean the current vehicles could be prevented from being operated on many roads, thereby relegating them to museum pieces.

Lastly, there may not be any qualified Technicians to work on these current vehicles decades on. The appeal of many of the vehicles from the early and mid-twentieth century, emotion aside, is their simplicity and ease of diagnosis and repair. The same cannot be said of most modern vehicles, even with OBD.

In addition, I believe we are approaching the end of the life cycle of the internal combustion engine, as was the case with steam during the last century. Like it or not, there are other forms of motive power coming along besides hybrids. Vehicles such as the Quant e-Sportlimousine may change the paradigm forever: